Rotary cutting machines, such as circular saws, brush mowers, stump grinders and the like, are used in various applications which include, but are not limited to, felling trees and other natural plant growth in the forestry industry, cutting rock and/or earth in the mining and construction industries, cutting up items such as used tires and other man-made products in various industrial applications, mowing brush and other material, and in agriculture. Relatively smaller circular saws are further used in countless other smaller-scale applications, from home renovation to commercial construction. Depending on the type of circular saw, the central disk of the saw either rotates (particularly for the smaller circular saws, for example) or remains rotationally fixed but has teeth on linked holders which rotate about the periphery of the saw disk, much as per chain saws.
Regardless of the type of circular saw, a plurality of such cutting teeth rotate, whether independently about the periphery of the rotationally-stationary disk or together with the rotating disk when fixed thereto, in order to cut into the workpiece material to be cut.
Known saw disks, particularly large circular saws such as those used for felling trees or cutting through large volumes of material, typically include a plurality of saw teeth positioned about the periphery of the disk. Often, these saw teeth are removable from an associated holder that is mounted to the circular periphery of the saw disk. This enables broken saw teeth and/or teeth with worn cutting edges to be removed for either replacement, repair or re-conditioning. Each of these holders project substantially radially outward from the circular disk, as seen in FIG. 4, allowing the removable teeth to be fastened thereon.
Such saw teeth are typically mounted to the outer peripheral edge of the circular saw disk at an angle, for example at an angle that is slightly greater than a tangential axis relative to the outer perimeter of the saw disk. Accordingly, the material chips which come off the cutting edge or edges of each saw tooth must be discharged from between the saw teeth and away from the disk, such as to permit optimal cutting. While the rotation of the saw disk tends to aid in this discharge of material chips, it has been found that chips sometimes remain lodged between teeth and the next adjacent tooth holder about the outer periphery of the saw disk.
Accordingly, a disk for a rotary cutting machine which provides improved chip discharge is sought.